


Mexico

by Dusky



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, F/M, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm Sorry, Post Season 1, mexican honeymoon, of sorts??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 13:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8373751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusky/pseuds/Dusky
Summary: A little twist in which Seth isn't there when the night manager strikes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written fic of any sort before and this turned out really short, but I've been Dusk trash for over a year so I figured I would give it a shot...forgive me if it's terrible!!

Stale air. Scratchy sheets. A door and paper-thin walls the only things separating her from the shouts and sounds of broken glass coming from just outside. Long gone were the memories of fabric-softened sheets and home cooked meals, instead replaced with stained mattresses and gas station burritos. 3 months in and it had all become somewhat natural to her, but _tonight_ , something was different.

Kate Fuller jolted up in bed with a racing heart, struggling to kick off the stiff sheets that had wrapped around her legs. She slowly peered around the dark motel room, not surprised to see the bed adjoining hers was empty.

Seth often left her alone at night, off doing God knows what – though she thought she knew – and it normally didn’t bother her. If she was still awake when he left, he would always order her to stay in the room with the door locked until he got back. _She_ rarely listened, because damn him if he thought he could control every aspect of her life, but tonight was one of the times she decided she would take his advice.

The lights were off but the thick, dark colored drapes were still open, bathing the room in an orange glow that dimmed every time a shadow passed by. Kate slid out of bed and quickly padded across the room to reach up and yank the drapes shut.

She moved to sit on the end of Seth’s bed after switching on a lamp, trying to squelch the anxiety churning her stomach. She had a terrible feeling that started the moment she woke up, having just relived in a dream the moment she drove a stake through her father’s heart. Her skin felt like it was crawling and there were a few drops of a cold sweat beading at the nape of her neck.

She told herself nothing had changed. This was the same motel they’d been at for just shy of two weeks now, filled with the same shady people she’d learned to tune out. And that was it; they were just _people_. As far as they knew, she and Seth hadn’t come across any culebras since escaping the twister. Sure, they’d come across bad people and wound up in some tricky situations – mainly because of the small jobs they’d been pulling – but it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Anything was better than what they’d endured in the twister.

She didn’t like to talk about it, neither of them did, but sometimes she had to. In the dark of their motel room, Kate would roll over in bed to face Seth, and wait for him to speak first. He would listen to her at first, even answering her little questions such as, “ _Do you think anything will ever be the same, Seth_?”, but the second Richie’s name came up he would turn his back to her, putting an end to their talk.

 _Richie_.

She thought about him sometimes, wondered what that woman, Santanico, had done to make him choose her over his own brother. Kate knew she had turned him – that much she had gathered from the rare times Seth talked about it – but it was still hard to imagine.

A loud bang from outside the room startled Kate from her reverie, this one much closer to their door than the others. She rose from the bed silently, creeping over to the table by the door. She dug into her bag while taking shallow breaths, pulling out the handgun she had grown to become closely acquainted with. _She was being ridiculous_ , she told herself. Seth would be back sometime in the next few hours and everything would be fine.

Flexing and un-flexing her fingers around the grip of the gun, she carried it with her back to her bed and dropped it on the nightstand. She decided she would try and get back to sleep; she didn’t necessarily want to be awake for whenever Seth drunkenly stumbled through the door.

...

It only felt like minutes later when Kate woke to the distinct sound of tapping on the door, followed by a soft calling of her name. "Kate. Miss _Kate_."

She frowned, rubbing her tired eyes as she sat up. The doorknob began to jiggle. "Miss Kate, Estas despierta?"

Her confusion only deepened as she approached the door, recognizing the night manager's voice. She opened the door partway, exposing half of her body to the warm air outside. "Martin," she addressed him confusedly. "Is something wrong?"

His eyes, gleaming behind the rims of his glasses, roamed over her, starting at her face and working their way down her ratty tank top and jean shorts. He looked over her for another second before smiling. "I brought these for you. Extra towels for your hair." He gestured to the small stack of towels that she hadn't noticed in his arms.

"Oh." Kate's smile faltered, unsure of how to proceed. "Thank you, Martin. I'll put them away right now."

She reached to take the towels from him, prepared to shut the door as soon as she'd satisfied him. He pulled them out of her reach. "Oh, no. I'll put them up for you, miss Kate. It's my job."

He stepped closer to her and, not knowing what else to do, she automatically opened the door all the way so he could come in.

Kate let the door fall almost completely shut, leaving just a crack of light as she moved away from it. She did a double take when she finally noticed the time that the digital clock on the nightstand read. "Martin, what are you doing up at 3:30 in the morning? Don't you sleep?" She called to him hesitantly, the silhouette of his body faintly visible as he fumbled around in the bathroom.

"I'm night manager," he answered simply, a strange smile appearing on his face as he exited the bathroom.

"Yeah," Kate muttered quietly. "Um, thank you for the towels." She reached to open the door again, holding it for him to go out.

He didn't leave.

Instead, he reached to push the door _shut_ , resting his hand against it. "You're a nice girl, miss Kate."

She frowned. "I...thank you?"

"You believe in God."

Her skin prickled, and her hand automatically came up to touch the cross that rested below her throat. "Yes."

"You're pure."

Kate got past the initial horror that washed over her, anger replacing it. She pushed down the feelings of betrayal and despair that threatened to overwhelm her, jutting her chin out and slowly backing towards the table behind her. "Martin, don't do this."

He was almost unrecognizable as he grinned at her. The sweet guy who was always worrying about the little girl living with the gruff man was nowhere to be found, replaced by... _something else_. "I'm sorry, Kate. Blood like yours is... _seductora_."

His eyes flicked to a bright yellow color, and Kate leapt to the side before he could attack her. She snatched her bag off the table as she moved back, her heart racing in her chest as she back up to the corner. "Martin, _please_. You don't have to do this!"

He shook his head wildly, his face almost completely contorted as he drew closer. She started digging through her bag wildly, panicking when she realized she had left the gun over by her bed--on the other side of the room. The wooden stake she normally kept in there was missing too, leaving her with a small pocket knife that was probably her only hope.

"My brother's like you, you know," she panted the words out, fear making it hard to breathe. "I'm not giving up on him because I think he can be _good_. You can, too!"

Martin answered with a screeching hiss, baring his venom-filled fangs and lunging at her.

Kate screamed, squeezing her eyes shut as she flicked open the knife and plunged it into his neck. He roared in pain, rearing back as he started gushing blood. Kate took her chance to get away, scrambling across Seth's bed as quick as she could to get ahold of the gun.

She grabbed it, quickly flicking off the safety like Seth had showed her. But Martin had recovered quicker than expected, and she barely had a chance to aim it before she was being knocked to the ground. The gun went off in the process, but the fresh bullet wound in his shoulder didn't seem to faze him.

Kate screamed again, thrashing back and forth in an attempt to get away as he held her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, before baring his fangs again and lunging towards her neck.

There was a loud bang and suddenly Martin was ripped off of her. Kate heaved in a breath, her eyes widening as she looked up to see Seth tackling Martin. She laid there, gasping as Seth withdrew a stake from his blazer and stabbed it through his chest.

Martin let out one last roar as his body disintegrated into flames. Seconds later, nothing was left but his glasses on the ground and a pile of ash.

"Kate!" Seth ran to where she was still lying on the floor and knelt down. "Are you okay? What did that fucker do to you?" He gripped her upper arms, hoisting her up so she was sitting on the bed.

She stared up at him, watching the way he was breathing heavily with his eyes focused on hers. He was sober. "You weren't here."

"What?" he shook his head. "No, no, I was almost here when I heard a gunshot."

Kate blinked. "He was about to kill me, and you weren't here."

He frowned, his eyes darting away from her gaze for a moment. "I'm sorry, I--I'm here."

"You're _never_ here. You leave me over and over again."

Kate knew that losing Richie had destroyed Seth. She could see it in the way his eyes darkened when she mentioned him, in the way he would reach for what he needed and get so high he couldn't think.

And Kate wasn't stupid, either. She knew heroin was one of the worst drugs someone could do, and yet she would help him with it. She injected it for him when his hands were too shaky. She did it anyway because, even though it made him a delirious asshole, at least he was _there_.

He moved away from where she sat, shedding his blazer and dropping it onto his bed. "Damn it, Kate. I told you to lock the door," he finally said.  

She leapt to her feet, the nonchalant words making her snap. "Locking the door doesn't make me feel better, Seth! You're out, every night, and I'm left to sit here and worry. What if something happened to you out there, huh? Who would I have then?"

Kate couldn't help letting some of her true feelings slip out. She told herself that it didn't bother her but, the truth was, she resented him for doing what he did. For barely speaking to her most of the time.

"Kate," he said, his voice lower as he turned to look at her. "I--"

She stalked across the room to where he now stood, stopping a few feet away. "I needed you!"

"I'm sorry!" he exploded. "What am I supposed to do? We were dealt a shitty hand and I'm dealing with it the best I can, okay? Sorry this isn't the Mexican honeymoon you expected it to be, princess. Maybe if Richie hadn't run off with the damn snake queen then--"

"Oh, right," Kate interrupted him. "Keep blaming everything on _Richie_! You know what? I never should've gone with you. I would've been _better off_ with Richie, not rotting here in this shitty room with _you_."

Seth's eyes narrowed and he slowly stalked over to her, closing the distance between them. 

Kate crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him. She wasn't intimidated by him anymore; she'd been around him too long for that. 

"What did you say to me?" He finally asked, his voice so low it made goosebumps erupt over her bare arms. 

"You heard me," she bit out, keeping her gaze leveled with his. 

His dark eyes traveled over her face, stopping momentarily on her lips before he shook his head angrily and looked away. 

Kate knew what happened next. After they had reached the peak of their arguing Seth would back down, instead reaching for the thing he seemed to love most these days. His drugs.

Except, this time, she wouldn't let him. 

Right as he started to turn away, the heat of his body already leaving her, she did something she never thought she could. Her hand went out quickly, grabbing the curve of his shoulder and yanking him down to bring his lips to hers. 

Seth went still immediately, pulling away with a terrified look in his eyes. "W-what are you doing?" 

Kate had imagined kissing Seth before, more than she would ever admit. It felt wrong, but she couldn't help but stare at him sometimes, wondering what it would be like to trace her fingers over the dark stubble covering his jawline. To feel his strong, sinewy arms wrapped around her. 

Now that it was happening, she couldn't find it within her to care about the consequences. 

She shook her head in response to his question, trying to hide the way she had developed a slight shake. She wrapped her hands around his arms the best she could, surprised at how easily he moved when she started to guide him towards his bed. "Sit down." 

He did, and when he stared at her helplessly, she knew he was going to speak. "Kate..." he started, fighting a silent battle with himself as his eyes started to cloud over in lust. 

She made his decision for him, doing possibly the most daring thing she'd ever done in her life and climbing onto his lap. "Shh," she finally whispered, stroking the side of his jaw with one hand and tilting her head as she watched him.

He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, shaking his head one last time before, this time, _he_ was the one to kiss _her_.

Kate wasn't completely sure of what she was doing - she'd only kissed one other person before - but it didn't matter; Seth was experienced enough for the both of them. 

Their lips met hungrily this time, and Kate let out a sound of surprise when Seth's hand wove through her hair, pulling her head backs slightly.

Her fingers traveled from his face to tangle furiously in his silky hair, while her other hand was wrapped tightly around his neck. Heat pooled in her stomach at the feel of his lower body against hers.

He ran his tongue over her bottom lip, causing her to gasp in surprise. This was nothing like any of her gentle experiences with Kyle; they were kissing desperately, almost feverishly.

Kate's hand traveled from his neck, now clutching desperately at his back as his tongue traced her lips. He tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss, her heartbeat stumbling and doubling its speed from the action. He groaned lowly as her nails pressed into his shoulder blades. She looked up, her vision hazy with pleasure as he moved his lips from her mouth and trailed a line of kisses down her neck.

His mouth continued to move, brushing over her collarbones. Before he moved to kiss back up her neck, his lips touched the skin just millimeters away from her cross necklace, nudging it a little.

The action reminded Kate of who she was, _and_ _where_ _they_ _were_ , and suddenly she was mad again. 

She gripped his face again, this time more roughly as she shoved his head back. Confusion and a bit of nerves shone through his hazy eyes. "Kate...wha-”

" _Shh_ ," she repeated.

She shifted in place where she still sat in his lap, and felt a silent thrill when she felt him go harder beneath her. Their whole kiss was a fight for dominance and, for once, Kate was going to be the one in control. 

" _I said no talking_." 


End file.
